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And the research should give a boost to speedy star Miguel Almiron as he searches for his first Premier League goal.

Scientists have conducted studies to show that animals with stripes can confuse predators by appearing blurred when they move swiftly.

It has long been known that some animals are better camouflaged when they are stationary by blending in, but it has now been proven that those with stripes, particularly narrow ones, benefit from being mobile.

Newcastle University researchers tested out their theories on praying mantises in a specially constructed miniature cinema.

Miguel Almiron of Newcastle United (24) runs towards the ball during the Premier League match

The insects were played videos of rectangular shapes which imitated bugs moving across a background similar to the natural environment.

As they watched movies of the bugs moving at different speeds, the mantises would move their heads and follow the bugs across the screen, tracking them as if they were prey.

Some of the bugs had narrow or wide stripes, while others were patterned to match the background or had no pattern at all.

The research, published in Current Biology, showed that the mantises found it particularly hard to spot the patterned bugs with narrow stripes moving at faster speeds.

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This is believed to be because their stripes quickly become blurred to the predator and harder to see.

Lead author, Professor Candy Rowe, professor of Animal Behaviour and Cognition at Newcastle University, explained: "We wanted to answer a puzzle that scientists have been wondering about for a while - can a pattern lower the chances that moving prey is seen by a predator?

"If you're standing still, then looking like the background is one of the best ways to not be seen, whilst having high contrast stripes is just about the worst thing - you can really stand out.

"For moving prey, we find that the opposite is true: stripes are much better than matching your background.